Los Angeles Times: Pryor Is Out As Top Pick for Supreme Court

January 25, 2017

Eugene Delgaudio said today in response to the Los Angeles Times report that William Pryor was no longer a top choice for Supreme Court: "its not over until the announcement by President Trump but this sounds like Pryor is out for the Scalia vacancy on the Court."

Millions read the LA Times headline as it was also posted on the world wide mega news site Drudge Report today January 24:

Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, a highly regarded conservative jurist best known for upholding religious liberty rights in the legal battles over Obamacare, has emerged as a leading contender for President Trump's first Supreme Court nomination.

............In Gorsuch, supporters see a jurist who has strong academic credentials, a gift for clear writing and a devotion to deciding cases based on the original meaning of the Constitution and the text of statutes, as did the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Just as importantly, Gorsuch is seen as someone who might be more easily confirmed in the Senate. Unlike other appointees of President George W. Bush, Gorsuch won an easy Senate confirmation on a voice vote in 2006.

Until recently, the two top contenders for the first Supreme Court nomination by Trump were believed to be Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of Alabama, who serves on the U.S. 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta,and Judge Diane Sykes of Wisconsin................

......While attacks from liberals would be expected, Pryor has also drawn criticism from some activists on the right.

In 2011, he signed on to an 11th Circuit opinion by liberal Judge Rosemary Barkett upholding a sex-discrimination complaint filed by a transgender state employee in Georgia. The worker was hired as a man but was fired after returning as a woman. In a 3-0 decision in Glenn vs. Brumby, the 11th Circuit concluded it is unconstitutional "sex-based discrimination" to fire a state employee "because of his or her gender nonconformity."............

....... the decision has been cited by some on the right as grounds for opposing him.

Perhaps as a result, several other prominent conservative judges like Gorsuch are getting more attention." (LA Times)